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I’m Not Going to Mention Geese in this Post

First and foremost, I hate geese.<p>They are just terrible, god awful things. Last year they pooped all over my porch and attacked me during my morning jog on the regular.<p>But I’m not going to mention these vile creatures in this post. No sir. I’m going to talk about their total opposites, waterfowlnesswise: Ducks. Lovely ducks. More speciﬁcally, wood ducks.<p>We have been baiting at these two pools at Coldwater, one of our sites, for about a month now, and a good number of ducks have reserved a table for the wheat entrée we have provided. There have also been a few scavengers here and there, trying to get their hands on a meal of their own, but these types, raccoons and such, haven’t been really been a major problem. We got to capture and band several ducks Saturday morning, and they didn’t hiss or draw a weapon or anything. Surprising, considering my experiences with another species that I will decline to name.<p>*Cough- cough* Branta canadensis *cough-cough*

In other news…<p>Man, these turtles.<p>Turtles, more speciﬁcally these so called box turtles up in “Sippyland,” are real damsels in distress. They go around swimming and mating and laying eggs and eating vegetation, then scoot out onto the streets and don’t look both ways before crossing. You think a turtle would be able to grasp the concept of using the IDPE Process Chart. I keep on having to get out of the government whip to help them like a granny at a busy intersection, and they don’t even give me a piece of hard candy. I mean the nerve of these turtle dudes, right?<p>I don’t know why, but I sincerely love turtles. I do. Ever since I saw that episode of “Hey Arnold” with the sea turtle in the city zoo, I’ve had a strong aﬃnity for these creatures. Whenever I encounter them driving, I will get out and lead them to the promised land on the other side of the street. I actually owe this habit to my time with SCA and USFWS. My previous policy was just to swerve to miss them, sadly aware that they would probably just get clipped by the next guy.<p>#turtlestopandplop<p>‘Til next time.

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